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Samos hotels refuse to take refugees from flooded camp

The exasperation of many islanders in the eastern Aegean with migrants who have arrived from Turkey again became apparent after rain flooded a refugee camp on Samos. Also locals on Chios are demanding that two camps be shut down after a riot last week.

On Samos, the association of hoteliers on Monday said it will turn down applications by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to house camp residents whose tents were destroyed by rain. Hoteliers’ association head Kostas Kyriazis told Kathimerini he had received an ultimatum from tour operators to “choose between tourists and migrants.”

Meanwhile, Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas on Monday urged media representatives from Chios to quell local opposition to a proposal for a third camp to help ease the pressure on the two facilities.

His meeting with journalists came ahead of a planned visit to the island by two high-ranking members of ultranationalist Golden Dawn and a protest rally.